thegiant-95061 Reviews

The Detour (2016–2019)

Very funny

[8/10 · 20 May 2016]

This is a great comedy.

The wit is very sharp and there are laugh out loud moments in every episode.

You can definitely see the influence of Sam Bee and Jason Jones style humour in here. Even the kids are well cast and have funny lines.

Sure not all aspects of the plot are realistic....but what comedy ever does realistic? the plot is there to set up the jokes, and it does that very well.

Funniest show I've seen in a long time.

well done.

Flaked (2016–2017)

hmmm...not sure about this

[5/10 · 13 March 2016]

5 episodes in and im asking myself what is the point of this show?

Is it a genuine comedy like Will's previous efforts? Nope, there is way too much drama about life and relationships to be a comedy.

Is it a drama/dramedy? well possibly, but the humour is too few and far between, and the episode plots not really that interesting or intriguing.

Is it a character driven story? well the male characters are all 40 something deadbeats with no prospects gong on, and the female characters are all hot 20 somethings. So not a lot to pull you in there as far as character development goes.

And the predictable love interest is all a bit contrived, with Will being close to 20 years older than Ruth Kearney.

Not really sure where this show is meant to be going, im not sure if the writers know either. 5/10

Outsiders (I) (2016–2017)

Has potential

[6/10 · 29 January 2016]

has potential because the story is fresh and original, with some decent actors you'll recognise from other shows.

outsiders living in the hills for generations doing their own thing according to their own rules, and the town people who largely stay away afraid of who they are and what they might do.

But now they are forced to collide with a mining development wanting to move the people off the mountain.

Ill continue watching to see where it goes - as long as it stays away from cliché and predictability I think it has enough originality to keep it going.

Teachers (2016–2019)

don't bother

[1/10 · 28 January 2016]

1 out of 10...being the number of times I laughed watching the first episode.

reviewer 'jenniferlb' is obviously connected with the show giving it 10/10 and comments like 'characters are immersed in their own flaws, yet somehow remain oblivious to them' and 'each character has a way of making you feel like you know them, yet they still surprise you'

give me a break.

how about more like: this is supposed to be a comedy YET it is completely unfunny, or there are 6 teachers in the cast YET none of them are male?, or these characters are supposed to be teachers YET don't care at all for their kids.

to sum up:

poor casting

poor writing

poor execution of 'jokes'

the kids are actually the best characters, and they weren't even trying to be.

Shades of Blue (2016–2018)

tries to be The Shield, fails.

[3/10 · 8 January 2016]

it's hard to say what's worse, the casting of Jenny Lopez in the lead or the terrible script. jenny? seriously? This show desperately wants to be The Shield, but instead of developing characters and a story over a season, Jenny and Ray break world records for most crimes committed by TV police officers in a single episode.

Lets recap the first episode: 1. 3 minutes in Jenny fakes a crime scene to make a bad shoot look good (her partner thinks an xbox controller looks like a gun and so shoots someone dead. sure why not. sounds plausible)

2. After 9 minutes in Jenny and her cop buddies share cash they have shaken down/stolen from other bad guys (just in case you didn't realise this is a show about corrupt cops at the 3 minute mark)

3. After 20 minutes in Ray makes deal with drug dealer, then beats him up. Vic Mackey policing chapter 1.

4. After 22 minutes Jenny tries to shakedown a bookie for cash. Oops, too bad he's under cover FBI. busted. worst corrupt cop ever. Couldn't even last 23 minutes.

5. After 30 minutes in Ray and Jenny run down a suspect with their car. He gets up and starts running....but 48 year old Jenny manages to run faster in heels and tackles him for the arrest. Girl Power!

6. After 33 minutes Jenny deliberately crashes her car - to cover up a lie she told earlier about the car being in a crash. Unfortunately she survives.

7. After 34 minutes, Ray drinks and drives on the job. Because being a corrupt cop isn't enough of a cliché. he has to be an alcoholic too.

8. After 36 minutes Ray hands over one bad guy to other bad guys to kill him. Vic Mackey policing chapter 2.

This show has no originality and zero potential. Stay away.

Superstore (2015–2021)

OK but not great

[6/10 · 2 December 2015]

This show borrows its format from the British series "Trollied", focusing on the shenanigans of employees of a fictional department store/supermarket. There are some genuine laugh out loud moments - the Dina character gets a lot of the best lines, but the main two characters Amy & Jonah are a little bit clichéd. The writers force- feed the audience the basic set up in the first 2 minutes where it's obvious that long time employee Amy will be the love interest of new starter Jonah. From there all the other fringe characters are introduced with their overly exaggerated quirks (the creepy one, the gay one, the white trash one, the dedicated one etc etc). It's not terrible, some characters have funny moments, but ultimately ít always comes back to the schmaltzy main story arc of when will Amy & Jonah get together. Nothing groundbreaking here 6/10.

Criminal Activities (2015)

A bit meh

[5/10 · 20 November 2015]

If John Travolta wasn't in the movie, you'd probably have skipped past this one already. And even then, with each scene that he is in, you spend more time looking at his glued on hair piece than following the movie.

Essentially the plot is 4 guys get mixed up with the mob and incur a large debt. To wipe the debt clean, they're forced to kidnap some guy for the mob boss (Travolta).

At the end of the movie, there's a 'The Usual Suspects'/ 'Now You See Me' style twist, and that is all explained thoroughly at the end.

Whilst I think the twist is convoluted enough to make it not predictable (the last 10 minutes of the movie is needed to explain the twist), at the same time it is not all that surprising or satisfying when revealed. Leaving you with a feeling of MEH at the end. It's been done many times before, with better set-ups and better actors.

Nothing special here. Very average.

Agent X (2015)

Complete and total garbage

[1/10 · 10 November 2015]

Sometimes you just know when a new show is going to be good or bad. I lasted 4 minutes and 30 seconds on this garbage before realizing without any doubt it was rubbish, and switched it off.

I was curious given Sharon Stones involvement, but I couldn't even stomach a few more minutes to see when she might appear.

It amazes me how shows like this make it to production in this day and age of digital TV when SO much GOOD TV is available at your fingertips.

in the first 3 minutes our hero manages to take down 4 bad guys through the usual over-choreographed improbable fight scenes that make you want to yawn.

The kicker was when he shoots a bad guy in his left shoulder, only for the same bad guy to reappear in the next scene with the bullet wound now in his right shoulder - all the while he is using his arms to fight our hero like he wasn't shot at all.

Im sorry but this isn't the 90s. Writers and directors - you need to do better if you want people to watch your show.